Yapster e-Conglomerate, the family-run Internet services company, this month opened its online training services, offering courses in information technology aimed at both local corporations and schools.

The Web-based training service, 2StudyIT.com, is the fourth of Yapster's Internet services that has gone online. 2StudyIT.com is being run by Yapster e-Learning Inc., one of the conglomerate's six subsidiaries that offer various Internet -based services. The other subsidiaries are Yapster e-Trade, Yapster e-Travel, Yapster Shared Services, Yapster e-Insurance Brokers, and Active Business Solutions (ABS).

Yapster's stock trading and insurance sites had either gone online, as well as its Web development services being offered through ABS.

People everywhere need to continue to improve and upgrade their skills to meet new demands and levels of productivity. There's a pressure for education and continued learning," said Arlene Yap, chief executive officer of Yapster e-learning.

She said that through 2StudyIT.com offers 31 curricula and around 300 IT-related courses. The courseware was developed and provided by NetG, an internationally recognized course creator that has worked with leading software companies to create and enhance the courses they offer. Among these software companies are Oracle, Novell, Netscape, Microsoft and Cisco Systems.

"Studies have shown that the Web-based training (WBT) environment results in up to 30% higher (greater) learning retention than any other training method", claimed Yap.

Quoting a study from International Data Corporation (IDC), she said that in Asia Pacific, WBT would accelerate and grow at an annual rate of 11%. By that same time, around 21.7 million qualified IT workers will be needed and IDC said that the supply will not be able to meet this demand.

"WBT is superior to other computer-based training (CBT) such as CD-ROM training, because users are sure that they have the latest information, and don't need to ask for upgrades", Yap said.

"Situations often overtake business plans and so does training necessary to effectively respond to changes. With WBT, the learner always does the right course at the exact time", she said.

Yap said they expect courses in e-commerce and the International Computer Driving License (ICDL) will be the most popular content that users will want to learn. The ICDL is an internationally recognized training module for teaching users the basic concepts of computers and related hardware and software technologies.

The ICDL course is actually the most popular course for online training worldwide, said Yap. Even the most veteran computer users, after taking the ICDL exams, often discover that they need to take the ICDL to completely familiarize themselves with computer technology, Yap said.

The Web-based training services are aimed mostly at corporations and for schools who would like to offer distance learning modules to complement their regular courses. The training services are open to individuals, but pricing for the courses will lower for group packages, said Yap.

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